How to Destroy a Warship in 4 Days - by the US Navy

When a $4-billion dollar warship burned for over 4 days while docked right at her home port of Naval Base San Diego, everyone started wondering, how did the fire start on USS Bonhomme Richard. The damages were so extensive that the ship had to be decommissioned but, how could Bonhamme Richard have been lost to fire in a shipyard environment, despite all the readily-available fire prevention programs and resources? The reasons will blow your mind, 'cause it's #NotWhatYouThink #NWYT #longs

Music:
Crowded Scene - WENDEL SCHERER
Danger Street - MAX ANSON
Lurking Fear - WENDEL SCHERER
Nobis Ipsis - CRAFT CASE
Lusus Naturae - MARTEN MOSES
The Threats Ahead - CRAFT CASE
Dystopian Dreams - CRAFT CASE
Growing Threat - CRAFT CASE
Population 0 - CRAFT CASE

Footage:
Getty Images/Videos
Shutterstock
Videoblocks
US Department of Defense

Note: "The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."

[ChclateChimp]

Submarine vet here. We take fires especially seriously onboard (for obvious reasons) and one of the first things we are trained on in our firefighting quals is "if you're not sure it's a fire, it is." Don't be afraid to call the casualty away if you have your doubts, because people being angry at you for "crying wolf" is better than losing the ship and potentially lives. Even if people are mad at you it will subside quickly, we understand that this is what we all were trained for and will praise you for being aware of your surroundings.

[twotone]

The Navy times article about this was if anything, more brutal. The ship's motto even was not safe from ridicule, as "We have Yet to begin to fight" describes the captain's attitude towards his ship being on fire. The conclusion of the article pointed out that there was a fire on board the Bonhomme's sister ship, the USS Essex the very same day, the entire reason we are talking about the USS Bonhomme Richard and not the Essex is that the Sailors aboard the Essex were not idiots. And indeed once they had done their job, they tried to save the Bonhomme as well. Well done, crew of the Essex!

[danward]

imagine having social anxiety so bad you're too afraid to make a phone call when your ship is on fire....

[MrZookle]

I am a retired USCG CPO with nine years of sea duty on their frigate sized ships. The CO is always, always, always solely responsible for everything involving his ship. This incident isn't the first time a command has placed blame on a junior enlisted sailor, in this instance an E-2. The deplorable incompetence up the chain of command resulted in billions of taxpayer dollars being wasted. Training videos alone don't prevent catastrophic failures.

[hewhohasnoidentity]

The sailor that was found not guilty was also found not to have enough evidence to recommend the case go to a court martial to start with. The Commanding Officer of the ship insisted the case go to trial anyway. The entire case against the sailor was based on someone seeing him near the passageway that led to the ramp where the fire was 45 minutes after the fire was reported. Even the person who saw him wasn't sure where the sailor was coming from or going. He was just in the area.

The CO of the ship was allowed to remain in his position until the ship was officially decommissioned and then he retired. He was found derelict in many ways but his punishment was a letter being placed in his record. I guess it would be more difficult to get a promotion during retirement.

[Dirt]

The US Navy never apologized to the accused. Sub Brief has really good videos that go more in depth about the different reports, events, and agents involved in this case.

[alexisjuillard]

imagine a 4 billion dollar ship going in flames under your watch on the first f**** day at your job

[TorricRoma]

Feel so bad for the sailor who was blamed by the captian in an attempt to hide his incompetence

[ebdhudnav]

Thank God the sailor was found no guilty. The media smeared him too since they thought he did it in anger for "failing" seal school.

[jrwhite]

I know this is an old video and an old story, but as a retired sailor from the USN, this enrages me to no end. The incompetence at EVERY level is astonishing. Every single ship I served on (5 total) had a "rapid reaction team" (or flying squad) within the in port duty section, whose soul purpose was to respond to a casualty (fire/flooding) outside of other normal casualty actions and have agent on a fire (or working controlling actions for flooding) within 3 minutes. They didn't go to the repair locker for assignments, they didn't wait for boundaries to be set, they didn't wait for the Locker Leader or OSL ("On Scene Leader") to give orders. They went straight to the problem and engaged as they saw fit. They were the very tip of the spear. These were predominantly engineering sailors (engineering sailors were typically best suited for this role). At duty section muster and turnover in the morning, those assignments were given and KNOWN. That team is typically the same people every single duty day so there should be no question or confusion. Being a "small boy" sailor for my whole career, that part may different on a "big deck", but that particular operating structure is in place (or it was back in the day, at least) on EVERY SHIP. A proper RRT could probably have put this out with CO2 bottles at its inception had the first sailor at least investigated the "haze" and called away a fire. At the very least, one of them would have had the gumption to activate AFFF (assuming it available). AFFF isn't intended for class A fires, but it probably would have worked. Agent on the fire 2 HOURS after called away is simply unbelievable to me. 3-5 minutes could have saved this ship. I was enlisted so I stood MANY duty days as EDO (Engineering Duty Officer), and I place a HELL OF A LOT OF BLAME for this on the EDO. A solid EDO who has a handle on system status (Engineering owns the firemain system) within the ship would have been crucial in this whole mess. DC plates not being properly updated or even used were also HUGE issues here as well. Any sailor would know what I am talking about here. This one hurt my heart. To see a ship lost while pier side. I just don't understand.

[Zaiderr]

I’m a firefighter. This is going to be in every class ever for now on. Jeez what a big mess up. Good teaching points

[asureaskie]

An excellent summary of how this went down, and a sober analysis of just how institutional and command failures can cause far more damage than enemy action.

Also, good on you for not buying into the Navy's and BATFE's scapegoating of enlisted seamen. The seaman the judge advised against prosecuting at the end of September, as an aside, had a court martial (prosecution) ordered against him by the base admiral notwithstanding the judge's findings.

[rjeffm]

As a former officer in a different navy, I watched this thing unfold in the news. I have no knowledge of the USN's approach to refits of this scale. I do understand how easy it is to let this kind of disaster creep up on you. Ships in refit are incredibly vulnerable to fire, for all the reasons explained and more, it is very easy to slide into a disaster. For this reason, it is a primary responsibility of the ships command team to be aware of what hazards are present. They must ensure that the remaining crew are equally aware, are trained, and absolutely sure of their responsibilities if they even suspect there is a fire, including being empowered to raise the alarm, how to react, what fixed firefighting resources are available, and how to conduct a timely attack on a fire. Frequent drills, with blunt critiques of the response; of the timeliness of the response; of the integration of external response teams; of the overall situational awareness maintained by leadership; and of the exercise outcomes are essential. This tragedy seems to me to be a direct result of failed leadership from the top down, with the "top" extending well above the level of C.O.

[adamyoung]

This is probably a good indicator of how leadership looks across the entire Navy, and other branches, currently. Any somewhat competent officer would have had enough ability to properly manage the situation until more senior Officers arrived. First day on watch or not. I'm also surprised that there weren't more senior officers in the general area who would run over to assist when the gravity of the situation became apparent.

[Idahoguy]

You know your Navy is in trouble when your officers and men forget how to react and fight a fire

[alitlweird]

I was on a carrier in the early 90s. some dude, smoking in an unauthorized space, haphazardly tossed his butt —where it landed in some oily rags— and left the space. Big fire ensued… followed by an investigation —that was even bigger… which was followed by many sailors losing their ranks, rates, and careers.

[MRRookie]

You’re a bloody menace, your second triangle of fire was gold! Not even a minute in and I can tell this one will be good.

[coolidgp]

Great analysis, only two things missing:

Your average ship has up to 1/4 of it's crew diverted to war on terror operations, this means your average sailor is expected to literally do more with less.

Also, starting on 2009, navy leadership decided it was much more important to buy new boats than to care about such petty things as ship maintenance and upgrades. Leading to this incident, the Fitzgerald, the John McCain, etc ....

[williewonka]

Unbelievable, 2 hours to begin putting suppression on the fire, yet the Captain retained his job after the ship was destroyed.

[Voltaic_Fire]

_"This room isn't usually filled with smoke... Nah, this is probably fine, plus I have some equipment I should be losing right now anyway."_
Truly they are the best of the best.